Russia, Britain to boost cooperation on Syria

London, Aug 2 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Russia and Britain have almost similar views on some elements of the Syrian crisis and will work together to find possible solutions to the conflict, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

He was speaking after holding talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London.

“We have pointed out that there are some points (related to the situation in Syria) that we appraise almost identically,” the Russian president said.

“We agreed that we will search for ways to solve this problem together and give an additional impetus to our foreign ministries to work together to find acceptable solutions,” he added.

Putin was on a day-long visit to London Thursday to meet Cameron and watch the Olympics.

Cameron said there were differences between the British and Russian positions on Syria, but both agreed that they wanted peace and stability to be restored in Syria.

The comments came as the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday it would not support a draft resolution introduced to the UN General Assembly by a group of Arab countries.

Russia and China have vetoed three Western countries-backed UN Security Council resolutions against President Bashar al-Assad fearing the repetition of “the Libyan scenario” in Syria.